Foldable portable cellular phone

ABSTRACT

A foldable portable cellular phone capable of identifying a transmitter of an incoming call to which a response has not yet been made is provided. The above phone includes a telephone directory memory in which a plurality of kinds of incoming sounds each being associated with each of two or more transmitters is registered, a control section to store, when an incoming call that arrived while the foldable portable cellular phone was folded has not yet been responded to, incoming call history information about the transmitter, into an incoming call history storing area and a switch to search, when the incoming call that arrived while the foldable portable cellular phone was folded has not been yet responded to, for the incoming call history storing area. The foldable portable cellular phone is so configured that, when the incoming call that arrived while the foldable portable cellular phone was folded has not yet been responded to, it causes a ringer generator to output incoming sound corresponding to transmitters.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention

[0002] The present invention relates to a foldable portable cellularphone and more particularly to the foldable portable cellular phone soconfigured as to maintain a state of being able to receive a telephonecall even while the foldable portable cellular phone is folded.

[0003] The present application claims priority of Japanese PatentApplication No. 2000-241715 filed on Aug. 9, 2000, which is herebyincorporated by reference.

[0004] 2. Description of the Related Art

[0005] A foldable portable cellular phone as a kind of portable cellularphone has come into widespread use (the foldable portable cellular phonehereinafter may be simply referred to as a “portable cellular phone”).FIG. 11A and FIG. 11B are schematic perspective views of an appearanceof a conventional foldable portable cellular phone. As shown in FIG.11A, the conventional portable cellular phone is so constructed that itsmain body 51 having a speech function is integrally connected to a lidbody 52 through a hinge 53 and that the lid body 52 can be rotatedaround the hinge 53 relative to the main body 51. While a telephone callis in progress, as shown in FIG. 11A, the lid body 52 is opened relativeto the main body 51 and, while the telephone call is not in progress, asshown in FIG. 11B, the lid body 52 is folded.

[0006] The main body 51 is provided with a transmitting and receivingantenna 54 configured so as to be freely expandable and contractible, areceiver 55, a display 56, an information inputting key 57, and the lidbody 52 is provided with a transmitter 58. The conventional foldableportable cellular phone having such configurations as above, since itssize can be reduced by folding the lid body 52 while the telephone callis not in progress and therefore the portable cellular phone can beeasily put in a pocket, bag, or a like and can provide portability to auser in particular.

[0007] One example of such the foldable portable cellular phone asdescribed above is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-openNo. 2000-69158. The disclosed portable cellular phone is configured sothat, while the portable cellular phone is being folded, howling thatoccurs possibly due to an approach between transmitter and receiver canbe prevented and so that operation of the portable cellular phone ishalted to reduce current consumption. Generally, the foldable portablecellular phone is configured so that a state of being able to receive acall is maintained even while the portable cellular phone is beingfolded unless power is turned OFF. However, in the above disclosedportable cellular phone, its operation is halted while the portablecellular phone is being folded, which causes half its use value to belost.

[0008] Therefore, generally, in the foldable portable cellular phone,since, while the portable cellular phone is being folded, an incomingsound rings at a time of receipt of a call, even if the portablecellular phone is being put in the pocket, bag, or the like so long asthe power is ON, a user can come to know that the portable cellularphone has received a telephone call. This can provide convenience to theuser.

[0009] However, the conventional foldable portable cellular phone hasproblems in that, in a state in which contents displayed on a screen ofthe portable cellular phone can not be seen, it is difficult for theuser to identify transmitters of telephone calls that have been storedas a history of incoming calls and that have not yet been responded toby the user. In the conventional foldable portable cellular phone, asdescribed above, since the state of being able to receive a call ismaintained even while the portable cellular phone is being folded unlessthe power is turned OFF, even when the portable cellular phone is put inthe pocket, bag, or the like, the incoming sound rings at the time ofthe receipt of the call, thus informing the user of the receipt of thetelephone call from someone. However, since the user cannot see contentsdisplayed on the screen of the portable cellular phone while theportable cellular phone is being folded, the user can not identify thetransmitters, that is, transmitters of the telephone calls to which aresponse is not made. Therefore, to identify the transmitter of theincoming call, the user has to take out the portable cellular phone fromthe pocket, bag, or the like whenever the portable cellular phonereceives the incoming call and also has to open the lid body to view thecontents displayed on the screen of the portable cellular phone, whichcauses handling of the portable cellular phone to be complicated.

[0010] Furthermore, in a case of users with visual impairments, evenwhile the lid body of the foldable cellular phone is being opened, theycan not read the displayed contents. This is actually the same as theabove case in which the displayed contents cannot be seen because theportable cellular phone is folded, thus making it difficult for suchusers to identify the transmitter of the incoming calls. Accordingly,emergence of a foldable portable cellular phone is expected whichenables the user to easily identify the transmitters of the incomingcalls stored as the history of incoming calls being remained unrespondedto even while the user is in a state of being unable to see contentsdisplayed on the screen of the portable cellular phone.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0011] In view of the above, it is an object of the present invention toprovide a foldable portable cellular phone which enables a user toidentify a transmitter of a telephone call that has been stored as ahistory of incoming calls being remained unresponded to even when theuser is in a state of being unable to view a content displayed on ascreen of the foldable portable cellular phone.

[0012] According to a first aspect of the present invention, there isprovided a foldable portable cellular phone being constructed integrallyof a main body with a speech function and of a lid body and, in a mannerthat the lid body is foldable relative to the main body and of a screento display operational contents, including:

[0013] a telephone information registering unit on which a plurality ofkinds of incoming sounds each being assigned so as to be associated witheach of a plurality of transmitters of incoming calls expected to betransmitted is pre-registered;

[0014] a control section to store, when an incoming call that arrivedwhile the foldable portable cellular phone was folded has not yet beenresponded to, incoming call history information about a transmitter ofthe incoming call, into an incoming call history storing area in astoring unit:

[0015] a switch having functions of searching for the incoming historystoring area in the telephone information registering unit and in thecontrol section and of outputting an incoming sound corresponding to thetransmitter of the incoming call; and

[0016] wherein, when the incoming call that arrived while the foldableportable cellular phone was folded has not yet been responded to, theincoming sound corresponding to the transmitter of the incoming call isoutput through operations of the switch.

[0017] In the foregoing, a preferable mode is one wherein the switch isso configured as to have a function of, when the incoming call thatarrived two or more times while the foldable portable cellular phone wasfolded has not been responded to, outputting the incoming soundcorresponding to a transmitter of the incoming call that arrived severalincoming calls before, through operations of signals each correspondingto each of operations of the switch performed two or more times to beinput to the control section based on control by the control section.

[0018] Also, a preferable mode is one wherein the lid body or the mainbody is provided with a detecting unit used to detect an opening andclosing state of the lid body, wherein, when the lid body is opened, adetection signal is fed to the control section from the detecting unitto make invalid the incoming call history information stored in thecontrol section.

[0019] Also, a preferable mode is one wherein the incoming sound isproduced by a ringer generator.

[0020] Also, a preferable mode is one wherein vibration is employedinstead of the incoming sound.

[0021] Also, a preferable mode is one wherein vibration is employed inaddition to the incoming sound.

[0022] Also, a preferable mode is one wherein a registered namecorresponding to a transmitter of an incoming call which is registeredon the telephone information registering unit and which is output from aringer generator is employed instead of the incoming sound.

[0023] Furthermore, a preferable mode is one wherein time stored in theincoming call history storing area is employed in addition to theincoming sound.

[0024] With the above configurations, since the foldable portablecellular phone has the telephone information registering unit on which aplurality of kinds of incoming sounds each being assigned so as to beassociated with each of a plurality of transmitters of incoming callsexpected to be transmitted is pre-registered, the control section usedto store, when the incoming call that arrived while the portablecellular phone was folded has not yet been responded to, incoming callhistory information about the transmitter, into the incoming callhistory storing area and the switch having the function of searching forthe incoming call history storing area in the telephone informationregistering unit and in the control unit and of outputting the incomingsound corresponding to the transmitter of the incoming call and further,since the foldable portable cellular phone is so configured that, whenthe incoming call that arrived while the portable cellular phone wasfolded has not yet been responded to, the incoming sound correspondingto the transmitter of the incoming call is output by the operation ofthe above switch, the transmitter of the incoming call can be identifiedwithout need for seeing contents displayed on the display device.Therefore, even in a state in which contents displayed on the displaydevice cannot be viewed, the transmitter of the incoming call to which aresponse has not yet been made can be easily identified.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0025] The above and other objects, advantages, and features of thepresent invention will be more apparent from the following descriptiontaken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:

[0026]FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view of an appearance of afoldable portable cellular phone according to a first embodiment of thepresent invention;

[0027]FIG. 2 is a schematic side view of the appearance of the foldableportable cellular phone according to the first embodiment and a thirdembodiment of the present invention;

[0028]FIG. 3 is a schematic block diagram describing configurations ofthe foldable portable cellular phone according to the first embodimentof the present invention;

[0029]FIG. 4 is a diagram explaining an operation principle of thefoldable portable cellular phone according to the first embodiment ofthe present invention;

[0030]FIG. 5 is a flowchart explaining operations of the foldableportable cellular phone according to the first embodiment of the presentinvention;

[0031]FIG. 6 is a flowchart explaining operations of a foldable portablecellular phone according to a second embodiment of the presentinvention;

[0032]FIG. 7 is a schematic block diagram describing configurations of afoldable portable cellular phone according to a fourth embodiment of thepresent invention;

[0033]FIG. 8 is a schematic block diagram describing configurations of afoldable portable cellular phone according to a fifth embodiment of thepresent invention;

[0034]FIG. 9 is a schematic side view describing configurations of thefoldable cellular phone according to the fifth embodiment of the presentinvention;

[0035]FIG. 10 is a schematic side view describing configurations of thefoldable cellular phone according to the fifth embodiment of the presentinvention; and

[0036]FIG. 11A and FIG. 11B are schematic perspective views of anappearance of a conventional foldable portable cellular phone.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0037] Best modes of carrying out the present invention will bedescribed in further detail using various embodiments with reference tothe accompanying drawings.

First Embodiment

[0038]FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view of an appearance of afoldable portable cellular phone according to a first embodiment of thepresent invention. FIG. 2 is a schematic side view of the appearance ofthe foldable portable cellular phone according to the first embodiment.FIG. 3 is a schematic block diagram describing configurations of thefoldable portable cellular phone according to the first embodiment. FIG.4 is a diagram explaining an operation principle of the foldableportable cellular phone according to the first embodiment. FIG. 5 is aflowchart explaining operations of the foldable portable cellular phoneaccording to the first embodiment. As shown in FIG. 1, the foldableportable cellular phone of the first embodiment is so constructed thatits main body 1 is integrally connected to a lid body 2 through a hinge(not shown) and that the lid body 2 can be rotated around the hingerelative to the main body 1. The main body 1 has an incoming call lamp 3and a transmitting and receiving antenna 5 configured so as to be freelyexpandable and contractible. The lid body 2 has a side key 4 with afunction described later. Thus, FIG. 1 shows the appearance of oneexample of the foldable portable cellular phone in a folded state.

[0039] Moreover, as shown in FIG. 2, the foldable portable cellularphone of the embodiment has a magnet 21 in its main body 1 and a leadswitch 22, in a position opposite to the magnet 21, in its lid body 2.These magnet 21 and lead switch 22 make up a detecting unit 23 in apair. Since the lead switch 22 is turned ON and OFF in response to adistance to and from the magnet 21, an opening and closing state of thelid body 2 can be detected by the detecting unit 23. Each of the magnet21 and the lead switch 22 may be mounted on either of the main body 1 orlid body 2.

[0040] The foldable portable cellular phone of the embodiment, as shownin FIG. 3, includes the transmitting and receiving antenna 5 used totransmit or receive a signal, a wireless section 6 used to modulate ordemodulate a signal, a display section 7 made up of an LED(Light-Emitting Diode) device, a liquid crystal or a like used todisplay an operation content, a key operating section 8 containing aside key 4 used to input necessary information such as telephoneinformation to a telephone directory memory 12, a control section 9containing a CPU (Central Processing Unit) used to perform controllingoperations on the entire components and to store a telephone call thatarrived while the portable cellular phone was folded and has not yetbeen responded to, in an incoming call history storing area in a memorywhich stores incoming call history information about transmitters ofincoming calls, a ringer generator 18 adapted to output an incomingsound by being driven by a ringer driving section 17 when the incomingcall that arrived while the portable cellular phone was folded has notyet been responded to, a speaker 10 used to output a received voice, amicrophone 11 used to input a voice to be transmitted and the telephonedirectory memory 12 on which the telephone information is pre-registeredthrough operations of the key operating section 8.

[0041] The telephone directory memory 12 is so configured that telephoneinformation made up of various pieces of data on a plurality oftransmitters of incoming calls expected to be transmitted ispre-registered through operations of the key operating section 8. Thetelephone directory memory 12 includes a name memory 13 used to registernames of the transmitters, a telephone number memory 14 used to registertelephone numbers of the transmitters, an incoming sound memory 15 usedto register incoming sound corresponding to the transmitter and a timememory 16 used to register the time of receiving the incoming call. Thatis, as shown in FIG. 4 as examples, both telephone numbers and incomingsounds each being assigned so as to be associated with each of thetransmitters of the telephone call are set and registered on thetelephone directory memory 12. For example, an incoming sound A isassociated with (1) Mr. Aka Satana, an incoming sound D with (4) Mr.Himi Rii and an incoming sound 2 with (11) Mr. Eke Setene. Thus, aplurality of kinds of incoming sounds each being assigned so as to beassociated with each of a plurality of transmitters of the telephonecalls is registered on the telephone directory memory 12. The incomingsound can be constructed by using, for example, kinds of melodies orkinds of tones, or by combining both.

[0042] Moreover, when incoming calls that arrived while the portablecellular phone was folded that have not yet been responded to,information about the history of the incoming calls including name a ofthe transmitters of the incoming calls, telephone numbers, incomingsounds, times, or a like are stored in the incoming call history storingarea in the memory installed in the control section 9.

[0043] The side key 4 of the key operating section 8 has a function bywhich, when the incoming call that arrived while the portable cellularphone was folded has not yet been responded to, when the side key 4 ispressed down, an operation signal from the side key 4 operation is inputto the control section 9 which causes incoming call history informationstored in the incoming call history storing area in the memory installedin the control section 9 and the telephone information stored in thetelephone directory memory 12 to be searched for, based on control bythe control section 9 and further, based on the search result, theringer driving section 17 is driven to cause the ringer generator 18 tooutput an incoming sound corresponding to the transmitter of thetelephone call. Therefore, when the incoming call that arrived while theportable cellular phone was folded, by operating the side key 4 andbased on control of the control section 9, the ringer generator 18 ringsthe incoming sound corresponding to the transmitter of the telephonecall.

[0044] Next, operations of the foldable portable cellular phone of theembodiment will be described by referring to the flowchart in FIG. 5.

[0045] First, the user checks a state of the lid body 2 of the portablecellular phone (Step S101). In a state where the lid body 2 is opened,the content displayed on the display section 7 can be seen and thereforethe routine is terminated. On the other hand, when the lid body 2 isfolded, contents displayed on the display section 7 cannot be seen andtherefore the routine proceeds to a next flow to check presence orabsence of incoming calls (Step S102).

[0046] In the case of the absence of the incoming call, since no problemexists, the flow is terminated (Step S107). In the case of the presenceof the incoming call, the user checks whether the incoming call has beenresponded to or not (Step S103). When the incoming call has beenresponded to, since speech has ended and no problem exists and the flowis terminated accordingly. In the case of the absence of the response tothe incoming call, that is, when the incoming call has not yet beenresponded to, the incoming call history information is stored in theincoming call history storing area in the memory installed in thecontrol section 9 (Step S104).

[0047] Next, whether the side key 4 is pressed down or not is checked(Step S105). When the side key 4 is not pressed down, the flow isterminated. When the side key 4 is pressed down, an incoming callcorresponding to the transmitter of the incoming call, based on thecontrol of the control section 9, is input from the ringer generator 18and the incoming sound rings (Step S106). Therefore, the user canidentify the transmitter of the incoming call by hearing the incomingsound, without the need for seeing contents displayed on the displaysection 7.

[0048] As described above, according to the foldable portable cellularphone of the embodiment, since the user can identify a transmitter of anincoming call by hearing the incoming sound, without the need for seeingcontents displayed on the display section 7, the user can be free fromcomplicated processing in which the portable cellular phone has to betaken out from a pocket or a like every time the incoming call arrivesand has to open the lid body 2 to see contents displayed on the displaysection 7 every time the incoming call arrives, which provides ease ofuse accordingly. Moreover, even if the user has visual impairment, sinceseeing contents displayed on the display section 7 is not required, theuser can easily identify the transmitter of the telephone call.

[0049] Thus, since the foldable portable cellular phone of theembodiment includes the telephone directory memory 12 on which aplurality of kinds of transmitters of telephone calls is to beregistered, the control section 9 used to store, when the incoming callthat arrived while the portable cellular phone was folded has not yetbeen responded to, the incoming call history of the transmitter in theincoming call history storing area in the memory installed in thecontrol section 9 and the side key 4 having functions of searching, whenthe incoming call that arrived while the portable cellular phone wasfolded has not yet been responded to, for the incoming call historystoring area in the telephone directory memory 12 and in the controlsection 9 and of causing the incoming sound corresponding to thetransmitter to be output, and further, since the portable cellularphone, by operating the side key 4, when the incoming call that arrivedwhile the portable cellular phone was folded has not yet been respondedto, is adapted to output the incoming sound corresponding to thetransmitter from the ringer generator 18, the user can identify thetransmitter of the incoming call without the need for seeing contentsdisplayed on the display section 7. Therefore, even in a state wherecontents displayed on the display device 7 cannot be seen, the user caneasily identify the transmitter of the incoming call to which a responsehas not yet been made.

Second Embodiment

[0050]FIG. 6 is a flowchart explaining operations of a foldable portablecellular phone according to a second embodiment. The foldable portablecellular phone of the second embodiment differs greatly from that in thefirst embodiment in that its side key 4 has a function of identifying atransmitter of an incoming call that arrived one incoming call before.That is, in the second embodiment, when incoming calls that arrived twoor more times while the foldable portable cellular phone was folded havenot yet been responded to, if the side key 4 is pressed down twice, eachof operation signals induced by pressing of the side key 4 is input to acontrol section 9 and, based on the control of the control section 9,both incoming call history information stored in an incoming callhistory storing area in memory installed in the control section 9 andtelephone information stored in a telephone directory memory 12 aresearched for and, further, based on a search result, a ringer drivingsection 17 is driven to cause a ringer generator 18 to output anincoming sound corresponding to the incoming call that arrived oneincoming call before.

[0051] Therefore, when incoming calls that arrived two or more timeswhile the portable cellular phone was folded have not yet responded to,by pressing down the side key 4 twice, based on the control of thecontrol section 9, the incoming call responding to the incoming callthat arrived one incoming call before is rang through operations of theringer generator 18.

[0052] Next, operations of the foldable portable cellular phone of thesecond embodiment will be described by referring to the flowchart inFIG. 6. First, whether a user presses down the side key 4 or not ischecked (Step S201). If the user does not press down the side key 4,since there is no need for identifying the transmitter of then incomingcall, the incoming sound does not ring (Step S204). When the side key 4has been pressed down, whether the incoming call history information isstored in the incoming call history storing area in the memory installedon the control section 9 is checked (Step S202).

[0053] If the incoming call history information is not stored, since theincoming sound is not output, the flow is terminated (Step S204)accordingly. If the incoming call history information is stored, a soundof the incoming call that arrived one incoming call before is rangthrough operations of the ringer generator 18 (Step S203). Next, whetherthe identification of the transmitter of the incoming call has beencompleted or not is judged (Step S205). If the identification of thetransmitter has been completed, the flow is terminated. When theidentification of the transmitter has not been completed, the routinereturns to Step S201 and the operations are repeated until theidentification is completed.

[0054] Thus, in the second embodiment, the same effects as obtained inthe first embodiment can be achieved. Additionally, according to thesecond embodiment, since the transmitter of the incoming call thatarrived one incoming call before can be identified, even if the incomingcalls that arrived two or more times while the portable cellular phonewas folded have not yet been responded to, the transmitter of theincoming calls can be identified.

Third Embodiment

[0055] The foldable portable cellular phone of a third embodiment is soconfigured, as shown in FIG. 2, that a magnet 21 is embedded in a mainbody 1 and a lead switch 22 is embedded, in a position opposite to themagnet 21, in a lid body 2. The magnet 21 and the lead switch 22, in apair, makes up a detecting unit 23. In the third embodiment, when thelid body 2 is opened, a control signal in response to an openingoperation of the lid body 2 is input from the lead switch 22 to acontrol section 9 in order to reset incoming call history informationstored in an incoming call history storing area in a memory installed onthe control section 9, that is, to make the incoming history informationinvalid. This enables the incoming call history information stored inthe incoming call history storing area in the memory installed on thecontrol section 9 to be made invalid by simply opening the lid body 2,which allows the incoming call history storing area to be utilizedeffectively.

[0056] Thus, in the third embodiment, the same effects as obtained inthe first embodiment can be achieved. Additionally, simply by openingthe lid body 2, the incoming call history information stored in thememory installed on the control section 9 can be easily reset.

Fourth Embodiment

[0057]FIG. 7 is a schematic block diagram describing configurations of afoldable portable cellular phone according to a fourth embodiment.Configurations of the foldable portable cellular phone of the fourthembodiment differ greatly from those in the first embodiment in thatidentification of a transmitter of an incoming call is performed byusing vibration of a vibrator 20, instead of incoming calls. That is, inthe embodiment, when the incoming call that arrived while the portablecellular phone was folded has not yet responded to, by operating a sidekey 4 (FIG. 1), the vibrator 20 is driven, based on control by a controlsection 9, by a vibrator driving section 19 to cause the vibrationcorresponding to the transmitter of incoming calls to occur. In thiscase, as a method for generating the vibration corresponding to thetransmitter of the incoming call by the vibrator 20, a method that hasbeen implemented by vibration technology can be employed.

[0058] Thus, by identifying the transmitter of the incoming call usingthe vibration of the vibrator 20, the use of the portable cellular phoneis made possible in a silent atmosphere in which ringing of such theincoming call causes inconvenience to other.

[0059] Therefore, in the fourth embodiment, the same effects as obtainedin the first embodiment can be achieved. Additionally, since thetransmitter of the incoming call can be identified, the portablecellular phone can be used without causing inconvenience to others.

Fifth Embodiment

[0060]FIG. 8 is a schematic block diagram describing configurations of afoldable portable cellular phone according to a fifth embodiment of thepresent invention. The foldable portable cellular phone of the fifthembodiment differs greatly from that of the first embodiment in that twokinds of systems are provided to identify a transmitter of an incomingcall. That is, in the fifth embodiment, by taking note of a fact thatthe incoming call includes not only a telephone call but also E-mail(electronic mail) as shown in FIG. 8, a first identifying unit 25 madeup of a combination of a ringer driving section 17 and a ringergenerator 18 to identify the transmitter of the incoming telephone calland a second identifying unit 26 made up of a combination of a vibratordriving section 19 and a vibrator 20 to identify the transmitter of theE-mail are provided.

[0061] In this case, as shown in FIG. 9, a lid body 2 is so configuredto have a first side key 27 used to operate the first identifying unit25 and a second side key 28 used to operate the second identifying unit26. These first and second side keys 27 and 28 may have functionsopposite to each other, that is, the first side key 27 may operate thesecond identifying unit 26 and the second side key 28 may operate thefirst identifying unit 25. Moreover, a slide key 29, as shown in FIG.10, may be mounted on the lid body 2. The slide key 29 can be soconfigured that it can have the same function as the above first sidekey 27 if the slide key 29 is slid, for example, toward an A directionand it can have the same function as the above second side key 28 if theslide key 29 is slid, for example, toward a B direction. The first andsecond side keys 27 and 28 or the slide key 29 may be mounted not onlyon the lid body 2 but also on a main body 1.

[0062] According to the configurations of the fifth embodiment, when thefirst identifying unit 25 is selected, the ringer generator 18 isdriven, thus enabling the incoming telephone call to be checked easily.When the second identifying unit 26 is selected, the vibrator 20 isdriven, enabling the incoming E-mail to be easily checked.

[0063] Thus, in the fifth embodiment, the same effects as obtained inthe first embodiment can be achieved. Additionally, in the fifthembodiment, since two kinds of systems to identify the transmitter areprovided, two types of incoming signal information can be checked.

[0064] It is apparent that the present invention is not limited to theabove embodiments but may be changed and modified without departing fromthe scope and spirit of the invention. For example, in the above secondembodiment, the incoming call that arrived one incoming call before ischecked. However, the side key 4 may have functions of checking theincoming call that arrived several incoming calls before, that is,incoming calls that arrived two or more incoming calls before. Moreover,the two kinds of systems including the ringer driving section 17/ringergenerator 18 and the vibrator driving section 19/vibrator 20 provided inthe fifth embodiment may be so configured that either of these twosystems may identify the transmitter of either of the incoming telephonecall or the E-mail.

What is claimed is:
 1. A foldable portable cellular phone beingconstructed integrally of a main body with a speech function and of alid body and, in a manner that said lid body is foldable relative tosaid main body and of a screen to display operational contents,comprising: a telephone information registering unit on which aplurality of kinds of incoming sounds each being assigned so as to beassociated with each of a plurality of transmitters of incoming callsexpected to be transmitted is pre-registered; a control section tostore, when an incoming call that arrived while said foldable portablecellular phone was folded has not yet been responded to, incoming callhistory information about a transmitter of said incoming call, into anincoming call history storing area in a storing unit: a switch havingfunctions of searching for said incoming history storing area in saidtelephone information registering unit and in said control section andof outputting an incoming sound corresponding to said transmitter ofsaid incoming call; and wherein, when said incoming call that arrivedwhile said foldable portable cellular phone was folded has not yet beenresponded to, said incoming sound corresponding to said transmitter ofsaid incoming call is output through operations of said switch.
 2. Thefoldable portable cellular phone according to claim 1, wherein saidswitch is so configured as to have a function of, when said incomingcall that arrived two or more times while said foldable portablecellular phone was folded has not been responded to, outputting saidincoming sound corresponding to a transmitter of said incoming call thatarrived several incoming calls before, through operations of signalseach corresponding to each of operations of said switch performed two ormore times to be input to said control section based on control by saidcontrol section.
 3. The foldable portable cellular phone according toclaim 1, wherein said lid body or said main body is provided with adetecting unit used to detect an opening and closing state of said lidbody, wherein, when said lid body is opened, a detection signal is fedto said control section from said detecting unit to make invalid saidincoming call history information stored in said control section.
 4. Thefoldable portable cellular phone according to claim 1, wherein saidincoming sound is produced by a ringer generator.
 5. The foldableportable cellular phone according to claim 1, wherein vibration isemployed instead of said incoming sound.
 6. The foldable portablecellular phone according to claim 1, wherein vibration is employed inaddition to said incoming sound.
 7. The foldable portable cellular phoneaccording to claim 1, wherein a registered name corresponding to atransmitter of an incoming call which is registered on said telephoneinformation registering unit and which is output from a ringer generatoris employed instead of said incoming sound.
 8. The foldable portablecellular phone according to claim 1, wherein time stored in saidincoming call history storing area is employed in addition to saidincoming sound.
 9. The foldable portable cellular phone according toclaim 2, wherein said incoming sound is produced by a ringer generator.10. The foldable portable cellular phone according to claim 2, whereinvibration is employed instead of said incoming sound.
 11. The foldableportable cellular phone according to claim 3, wherein vibration isemployed instead of said incoming sound.
 12. The foldable portablecellular phone according to claim 9, wherein vibration is employedinstead of said incoming sound.